Worst2First: My Top Ten Films to Watch on Netflix for Halloween

Worst2First: 

My Top Ten Films to Watch on Netflix for Halloween 

It's the season for Netflix and Chills, and the popular streaming service offers something for everyone to enjoy this Halloween season. From original content to some of today's most cerebral and thought-provoking horror, there's a lot to enjoy for your Netflix and Chills Halloween, and here are my ten favorites.

**THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS**

#10

Gerald's Game

There are two names that are synonymous with horror: Stephen King and Mike Flanagan. King is the most prolific horror writer of our generation, while Flanagan has directed some of the best horror films in recent memory, so when these two titans of terror come together it's bound to be a terrifyingly good time. While once thought to be impossible to turn into a film, "Gerald's Game" finds married couple Jessie and Gerald - played flawlessly by Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood - arriving at an isolated lake house for a romantic getaway. After Jessie is handcuffed to the bed for some unique passionate play, Gerald dies of a heart attack, leaving Jessie stuck alone in a house far from any neighbor handcuffed to the bed, unable to escape. The film focuses on her struggle to break free as well as facing her own demons, and it's filled with tense performances and an even more tense ticking of the clock.

#9

The Perfection

Delving into what it means to be a perfectionist, "The Perfection" is a tense, spiraling character study of a woman who will seemingly stop at nothing to get what she feels like she deserves - before the entire film turns on its head, culminating in a shocking twist conclusion. "Get Out" star Allison Williams stars as Charlotte, a once promising cellist who had to give up her dream to tend to her dying mother, but now she wants back in the limelight - the limelight that's now occupied by the new thing, Logan Browning's Lizzie. What at first seems like friendly competition soon turns deadly, before - as I said earlier - the big twist occurs, throwing everything you think you know out the window. Great performances, a twisting story, and especially copious amounts of body horror and gore, "The Perfection" has it all.

#8

The Babysitter

If you're looking for a little brevity to your horror delights, "The Babysitter" is right up your alley. Samara "Hugo Weaving's Daughter" Weaving stars as the titular babysitter, but she's not all sugar and spice - and her young ward soon discovers that he's the intended victim of her and her friends' night of ritualistic horror. Filled with humor and gore in equal measure, "The Babysitter" will have you laughing your guts out.

#7

The Ritual

Four friends travel to the woods of northern Sweden in memory of a friend who was taken by violence, and find themselves at the mercy of a cult that seemingly wants to sacrifice them to their Norwegian gods. Rafe Spall leads an up-and-coming cast in this Netflix original thriller that's packed with tense moments, unforgettable imagery, shocking violence, and a mind-bending tale that'll stick with you long after it ends.

#6

The Conjuring 2

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, two of the most well-known demonologists and psychics in recent history, in the second "Conjuring" film. This time they head to England to investigate the Enfield poltergeist, a spirit that haunts a family and especially the young daughter, and who seemingly wants to see their destruction. This sequel also introduces the Nun and the Crooked Man and continues with "The Conjuring" universe, filled with frightening jump scares and a thought-provoking mystery at the center of it all.

#5

Insidious

Patrick Wilson returns to the list, and this time he's joined by Rose Byrne as a young married couple who's facing the ultimate trial - their young son (Ty Simpkins, who went on to appear in "Jurassic World" and "Iron Man 3") has fallen into some sort of coma, and discovers that he's being haunted by a demon who wishes to take over the child's body for its own. Lyn Shaye stars as a psychic who tries to help the family reach into the Further on the astral plane to get their son back before the demon can take over, and the film is stacked with heart-pounding scares and one of the best jump scares in recent memory.

#4

Hush

Mike Flanagan returns to the director's chair to direct his real-life wife Kate Siegel in "Hush," a vivid home invasion horror film that's unlike most movies on this list, because it's something that could really happen. Siegel's character - horror author Maddie Young - is a deaf-mute who is seeking solitude to focus on her writing, but soon discovers she's not alone. A masked man (played by John Gallagher Jr.) wants to play a killer game of cat-and-mouse with the author, and uses her disabilities to his advantage - but soon he realizes she's not as helpless as he thought she was. Exceptional in its simplicity, "Hush" will leave a hushed tone with the audience as they sit on pins and needles wondering how it will all pan out.

#3

Creep

Turning the found footage genre on its heels, "Creep" (and its equally stellar sequel, also on Netflix) is a small character study featuring two actors - Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice - who poured their hearts and souls into this project, not only starring in it but writing it and featuring Brice's directing talents as well. The film follows Brice's Aaron, a videographer who's hired by Duplass's Josef to film his final moments for his unborn son. Aaron, however, soon begins to have doubts about everything Josef is telling him due to his eccentric nature, culminating in an explosive ending that'll seep into your very soul.

#2

Let Me In

It's super rare for an American remake to stick to the heart and soul of its original work, and even rarer for it to match the original's intensity, but that's exactly what "Let Me In" managed to accomplish, serving as the American remake of the Swedish romantic horror "Let the Right One In." A young boy is bullied at school, and is befriended by a new neighbor girl who takes a shine to the young man, and promises to protect him. She's no ordinary girl, but a vampire, and while she doesn't want to kill, she needs to in order to survive. Then-relative unknown child stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee star in this modern day gothic romantic horror film that'll tug at your heartstrings before the vampire pulls the heart out of you.

#1

It Follows

Director David Robert Mitchell takes the concept of sexually transmitted diseases and gives them a new life in the modern horror classic "It Follows." Young Jay (Maika Monroe) has sex with a boy she meets, and learns from him that she's now cursed with an evil entity that'll follow her until she has sex with someone else, passing on the curse. If the entity gets to her, she'll die a terrible death - but if she has sex, she'll pass it on and keep herself safe. The concept is unrelenting at its core, only adding to the terror with the simplistic way it's shot. No music for cheap jump scares, just creepy people following Jay without saying a word, without running, and without doing anything supernatural - which on paper sounds boring, but put to screen the imagery is unforgettable, as is the film.